Iranian Armenians
Iran had one of the largest populations of Armenians in the world, alongside the neighbouring Ottoman Empire until the beginning of the 20th century.
On the Behistun Inscription of 515 BC, Darius the Great indirectly confirmed that Urartu and Armenia are synonymous when describing their conquests.
[6] In the 11th century, the Seljuks drove thousands of Armenians into Iran, where some were sold as slaves and others worked as artisans and merchants.
After the Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia in the 13th century, many Armenian merchants and artists settled in Iran, in cities that were once part of historic Armenia such as Khoy, Salmas, Maku, Maragheh, Urmia, and especially Tabriz.
[8][9] Owing to the century-long Turco-Iranian geo-political rivalry that would last in Western Asia, significant parts of the region were frequently fought over between the two rival empires.
From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geo-political stance towards its two neighbors and rivals to the south, namely Iran and the Ottoman Empire.
As a result of the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), Qajar Iran was forced to irrevocably cede swaths of its territories in the Caucasus, comprising modern-day Eastern Georgia, Dagestan, and most of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
By the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), Qajar Iran had to cede the remainder of its Caucasian territories, comprising modern-day Armenia and the remaining part of the contemporary Azerbaijan Republic.
The Treaty of Turkmenchay further stipulated that the Tsar had the right to encourage the resettling of Armenians from Iran into the newly established Russian Armenia.
[17] At the close of the fourteenth century, after Timur's campaigns, Islam had become the dominant faith, and Armenians became a minority in Eastern Armenia.
[26] They were pioneers in photography, theater, and the film industry, and also played a very pivotal role in Iranian political affairs.
As a result of the Persian Campaign in northern Iran during World War I, the Ottomans massacred 80,000 Armenians and 30,000 fled to the Russian Empire.
Armenian presses published numerous books, journals, periodicals, and newspapers, the prominent one being the daily "Alik".
[43] The fall of the Soviet Union, the common border with Armenia, and the Armeno-Iranian diplomatic and economic agreements have opened a new era for the Iranian Armenians.
This includes important consumer products, access to air travel, and energy sources (like petroleum and electricity).
Half of Iran's Armenians live in the Tehran area (where they have been established since at least the Safavid era[45]), most notably in its suburbs of Narmak, Majidiyeh, Nadershah, etc.
Following the Russo-Persian War (1826–28) about 40,000 Armenians left Azerbaijan and resettled in newly established Russian Armenia.
[50] After the ceding of swaths of territories to Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century, the independent position of the Tabrizi Armenians was strengthened, as they gained immunities and concessions by Abbas Mirza.
[51] The particular importance of the Tabrizi Armenians also grew with the transfer of the bishop's seat from St.Taddeus (or Qara Kelissa) near Salmas to Tabriz in 1845.
List of Armenian villages in central Iran: The settlements of Lenjan, Alenjan and Karvan were abandoned in the 18th century.
[54] Many dialects also use a low front vowel as a marginal phoneme ⟨æ⟩, primarily in loanwords from Persian, but also in some native Armenian words such as mæt "one; a bit; for a moment" from մի հատ mi hat.
[53][54] There are also many calques from Persian, particularly in cultural phraseology and in compound verbs (e.g. պատճառ ելնել patčaṙ elnel from باعث شدن bā'es šodan “to result in; to cause”).
